Passenger car registrations: -38.5% four months into 2020; -76.3% in April
Brussels, 19 May 2020 – In April 2020, registrations of new passenger cars in the European Union posted a year-on-year decline of 76.3%. The first full month with COVID-19 restrictions in place resulted in the strongest monthly drop in car demand since records began.
In April 2020, registrations of new passenger cars in the European Union1 posted a year-on-year decline of 76.3%. The first full month with COVID-19 restrictions in place resulted in the strongest monthly drop in car demand since records began. With most showrooms across the EU closed for the entire month, the number of new cars sold fell from 1,143,046 units in April 2019 to 270,682 units last month.
Each of the 27 EU markets recorded double-digit declines in April, but Italy and Spain endured the biggest losses, with car registrations falling by 97.6% and 96.5% respectively. Looking at the other major markets, demand dropped by 61.1% in Germany, while France saw an 88.8% contraction in April.
From January to April 2020, EU demand for new passenger cars contracted by 38.5%, owing to the negative impact of the coronavirus on March and April results. So far this year, registrations fell by half in three of the four key EU markets: Italy -50.7%, Spain -48.9% and France -48.0%. In Germany, demand contracted by 31.0% over the first four months of 2020.
1 European Union refers to the new composition with 27 member states (excluding the United Kingdom). For year-on-year comparisons, historical data are recalculated to adjust to the new EU27 perimeter.
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About ACEA
- The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) represents the 14 major Europe-based car, van, truck and bus makers: BMW Group, DAF Trucks, Daimler Truck, Ferrari, Ford of Europe, Honda Motor Europe, Hyundai Motor Europe, Iveco Group, JLR, Mercedes-Benz, Renault Group, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen Group, and Volvo Group.
- Visit www.acea.auto for more information about ACEA, and follow us on www.twitter.com/ACEA_auto or www.linkedin.com/company/ACEA/.
- Contact: Francesca Piazza, Senior Statistics Manager, fp@acea.auto.
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About the EU automobile industry
- 13.0 million Europeans work in the automotive sector
- 11.5% of all manufacturing jobs in the EU
- €374.6 billion in tax revenue for European governments
- €101.9 billion trade surplus for the European Union
- Over 7% of EU GDP generated by the auto industry
- €59.1 billion in R&D spending annually, 31% of EU total
